Impact of the interplay between nonstoichiometry and kinetic energy of the plume species on the growth mode of SrTiO<sub>3</sub>thin films

Xu, Chencheng; Wicklein, Sebastian; Sambri, A.; Amoruso, S.; Moors, Marco; Dittmann, Ralf W.

doi:10.1088/0022-3727/47/3/034009

Cited by 58 publications

(68 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…In previous research, 17,18 we found that the oxidation state in which the plasma constituents arrive at the substrate can influence the stoichiometry of the film growth; yet, film growth would still take place. In other research where the background gas is modified, either its pressure or its composition, to investigate its influence on the film growth 33,34 results. That is, a change in stoichiometry is present for certain background gas compositions and pressures, but film growth is still present.…”

Section: Apl Mater 4 126102 (2016)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Laser-induced fluorescence analysis of plasmas for epitaxial growth of YBiO3 films with pulsed laser deposition

et al. 2016

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We record the two-dimensional laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) on multiple plasma constituents in a YBiO3 plasma. This allows us to directly link the influence of oxygen present in the background gas during pulsed laser deposition to the oxidation of plasma species as well as the formation of epitaxial YBiO3 films. With spatiotemporal LIF mapping of the plasma species (Y, YO, Bi, and BiO) in different background gas compositions, we find that little direct chemical interaction takes place between the plasma plume constituents and the background gas. However, a strong influence of the background gas composition can be seen on the YBO film growth, as well as a strong correlation between the oxygen fraction in the background gas and the amount of YO in the plasma plume. We assign this correlation to a direct interaction between the background gas and the target in between ablation pulses. In an O2 background, an oxygen-rich surface layer forms in between ablation pulses, which provides additional oxygen for the plasma plume during target ablation. This differs from our previous observations in STO and LAO plasmas, where species oxidation primarily takes place during propagation of the plasma plume towards the substrate.

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Section: Apl Mater 4 126102 (2016)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Laser-induced fluorescence analysis of plasmas for epitaxial growth of YBiO3 films with pulsed laser deposition

et al. 2016

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“…The diffusive propagation of the ablated species beyond this distance strongly reduces the deposition rate and can affect the film stoichiometry by preferential scattering of lighter elements with the background gas 25 . In this regime, the kinetic energy of the species is of the order of the thermal energy, which is lower than the activation energy for surface diffusion of adatoms and can affect the growth mode 26 . The growth was monitored by in-situ reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED).…”

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Epitaxial growth and thermodynamic stability of SrIrO3/SrTiO3 heterostructures

Groenendijk

Manca

Mattoni

et al. 2016

Applied Physics Letters

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Obtaining high-quality thin films of 5d transition metal oxides is essential to explore the exotic semimetallic and topological phases predicted to arise from the combination of strong electron correlations and spin-orbit coupling. Here, we show that the transport properties of SrIrO 3 thin films, grown by pulsed laser deposition, can be optimized by considering the effect of laser-induced modification of the SrIrO 3 target surface. We further demonstrate that bare SrIrO 3 thin films are subject to degradation in air and are highly sensitive to lithographic processing. A crystalline SrTiO 3 cap layer deposited in-situ is effective in preserving the film quality, allowing us to measure metallic transport behavior in films with thicknesses down to 4 unit cells. In addition, the SrTiO 3 encapsulation enables the fabrication of devices such as Hall bars without altering the film properties, allowing precise (magneto)transport measurements on micro-and nanoscale devices.The intriguing electronic structure of 5d transition metal oxides arises from the delicate interplay between competing energy scales. Iridium compounds display a particularly large spin-orbit coupling (SOC) of the order of 0.4 eV, which leads to the formation of novel J eff = 1/2 and J eff = 3/2 states 1 . The combination of this strong SOC and slight lattice distortions has recently drawn attention to SrIrO 3 as a promising candidate to realise topological (semi)metallic phases 2-6 . Perovskite SrIrO 3 is a member of the Pbnm space group, featuring two glide planes and a mirror plane which are crucial in determining its band structure 7,8 . At atmospheric pressure, SrIrO 3 crystallises in a 6H-hexagonal structure, while its perovskite form can be obtained by applying high pressure and temperature and subsequent quenching 9 . This requires particular care due to the high volatility of iridium oxides and competition with other phases such as Sr 2 IrO 4 and Sr 3 Ir 2 O 7 10 . These extreme conditions can be avoided by resorting to thin film growth, where epitaxial constraint can be used to synthesize perovskite SrIrO 3 films 8,[11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] . SrIrO 3 films are generally grown by pulsed laser deposition (PLD), where a relatively high oxygen pressure (0.01 -1 mbar) is required to control the Ir oxidation state19 . In such high pressure conditions, the interaction dynamics between the expanding plume and the background gas are very complex 20 . This can readily result in slight deviations from the ideal film stoichiometry, which can strongly affect the electrical properties through the formation of crystal defects. Electrical transport measurements of SrIrO 3 films reported in literature show a rather large variability, which brings to question the role of disorder and secondary phase formation on a) Electronic mail: d.j.groenendijk@tudelft.nl the film properties [13][14][15]21,22 .In this Letter, we identify key issues related to the growth and stability of SrIrO 3 thin films and study how these affect their electrical properties. F...

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“…Deposition is the result of complex spatiotemporal, plasma-chemical dynamics. This renders the growth of films highly dependent on the external growth parameters, such as ablation laser fluence 5,6 and background gas pressure and composition, 7 in manners that are not well understood. More specifically, the often stringent requirements concerning the external parameters to grow high-quality defect-free films indicate that the state in which plasma constituents arrive at the substrate (oxidation state, propagation speed, and arrival time of different components) is of equal or even greater importance than just the stoichiometric transfer of materials.…”

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confidence: 99%

Influence of the oxidation state of SrTiO₃ plasmas for stoichiometric growth of pulsed laser deposition films identified by laser induced fluorescence

et al. 2015

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Impact of the interplay between nonstoichiometry and kinetic energy of the plume species on the growth mode of SrTiO₃thin films

Cited by 58 publications

References 45 publications

Laser-induced fluorescence analysis of plasmas for epitaxial growth of YBiO3 films with pulsed laser deposition

Laser-induced fluorescence analysis of plasmas for epitaxial growth of YBiO3 films with pulsed laser deposition

Epitaxial growth and thermodynamic stability of SrIrO3/SrTiO3 heterostructures

Influence of the oxidation state of SrTiO₃ plasmas for stoichiometric growth of pulsed laser deposition films identified by laser induced fluorescence

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Impact of the interplay between nonstoichiometry and kinetic energy of the plume species on the growth mode of SrTiO3thin films

Cited by 58 publications

References 45 publications

Laser-induced fluorescence analysis of plasmas for epitaxial growth of YBiO3 films with pulsed laser deposition

Laser-induced fluorescence analysis of plasmas for epitaxial growth of YBiO3 films with pulsed laser deposition

Epitaxial growth and thermodynamic stability of SrIrO3/SrTiO3 heterostructures

Influence of the oxidation state of SrTiO3 plasmas for stoichiometric growth of pulsed laser deposition films identified by laser induced fluorescence

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Impact of the interplay between nonstoichiometry and kinetic energy of the plume species on the growth mode of SrTiO₃thin films

Influence of the oxidation state of SrTiO₃ plasmas for stoichiometric growth of pulsed laser deposition films identified by laser induced fluorescence